Regent's Park

Regent's Park
Regent's Park bandstand and lake
Location within central London
Type Public park
Location London
Coordinates 51°31′56″N 0°09′24″W / 51.532222°N 0.156667°W / 51.532222; -0.156667Coordinates: 51°31′56″N 0°09′24″W / 51.532222°N 0.156667°W / 51.532222; -0.156667
Area 410 acres (170 ha) (1.6 km²)
Status Open year round
Website www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/the-regents-park

Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It lies within north-west London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden.[1] It contains Regent's University London and the London Zoo.

The park is Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[2]

Description

The park has an outer ring road called the Outer Circle (4.45 km) and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle (1 km), which surrounds the most carefully tended section of the park, Queen Mary's Gardens. Apart from two link roads between these two, the park is reserved for pedestrians (with the exception of The Broad Walk between Chester Road and the Outer Circle, which is a shared use path). The south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with elegant white stucco terraces of houses designed by John Nash and Decimus Burton. Running through the northern end of the park is Regent's Canal, which connects the Grand Union Canal to London's historic docks.

Regent's Park Lake

The 166 hectares (410 acres) park[3] is mainly open parkland with a wide range of facilities and amenities, including gardens; a lake with a heronry, waterfowl and a boating area; sports pitches; and children's playgrounds. The northern side of the park is the home of London Zoo and the headquarters of the Zoological Society of London. There are several public gardens with flowers and specimen plants, including Queen Mary's Gardens in the Inner Circle, in which the Open Air Theatre is located; the formal Italian Gardens and adjacent informal English Gardens in the south-east corner of the park; and the gardens of St John's Lodge. Winfield House, the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, stands in private grounds in the western section of the park. Nearby is the domed London Central Mosque, better known as Regent's Park mosque, a highly visible landmark.

Located to the south of the Inner Circle is Regent's University London, home of the European Business School London, Regent's American College London (RACL) and Webster Graduate School among others.

Abutting the northern side of Regent's Park is Primrose Hill, another open space which, with a height of 256 feet (78 m)[4], has a clear view of central London to the south-east, as well as Belsize Park and Hampstead to the north. Primrose Hill is also the name given to the immediately surrounding district.

Management

The public areas of Regent's Park are managed by The Royal Parks, a government agency. The Crown Estate Paving Commission is responsible for managing certain aspects of the built environment of Regent's Park. The park lies within the boundaries of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, but those authorities have only peripheral input to the management of the park. The Crown Estate owns the freehold of Regent's Park.

History

Regent's Park c.1833
Memorial to the soldiers killed in Regent's Park in the 1982 Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings

In the Middle Ages the land was part of the manor of Tyburn, the property of Barking Abbey. In the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII appropriated the land, and it has been Crown property ever since, except for the period between 1649 and 1660. It was set aside as a hunting park, known as Marylebone Park, until 1649. It was then let out in small holdings for hay and dairy produce.[5]

When the leases expired in 1811 the Prince Regent (later King George IV) commissioned architect John Nash to create a masterplan for the area. Nash originally envisaged a palace for the Prince and a number of grand detached villas for his friends but, when this was put into action from 1818, the palace and most of the villas were dropped. However, most of the proposed terraces of houses on the fringes of the park were built. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself; in some instances, completion was left in the hands of other architects such as the young Decimus Burton. The Regent Park scheme was integrated with other schemes built for the Prince Regent by Nash, including Regent Street and Carlton House Terrace in a grand sweep of town planning stretching from St. James's Park to Parliament Hill. The scheme is considered one of the first examples of a garden suburb and continues to influence the design of suburbs.[6] The park was first opened to the general public in 1835, initially two days a week. The 1831 diary of William Copeland Astbury describes in detail his daily walks in and around the park, with references to the Zoo, the canal, and surrounding streets, as well as features of daily life in the area.[7]

On 15 January 1867, forty people died when the ice cover on the boating lake collapsed and over 200 people plunged into the lake.[8] The lake was subsequently drained and its depth reduced to four feet before being reopened to the public.[9]

Late in 1916, the Home Postal Depot, Royal Engineers moved to a purpose built wooden building (200,000 sq ft) on Chester Road, Regent’s Park. This new facility contained the depot's administration offices, a large parcel office and a letter office, these last two previously being at the Mount Pleasant Mail Centre. HM King George V and HM Queen Mary visited the depot on 11 December 1916. The depot vacated the premises in early 1920.[10]

Queen Mary's Gardens, in the Inner Circle, were created in the 1930s, bringing that part of the park into use by the general public for the first time. The site had originally been used as a plant nursery and had later been leased to the Royal Botanic Society.

In 1982 an IRA bomb was detonated at the bandstand, killing seven soldiers.

The sports pitches, which had been relaid with inadequate drainage after the Second World War, were relaid between 2002 and 2004, and in 2005 a new sports pavilion was constructed.

On 7 July 2006 the Park held an event for people to remember the events of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Members of the public placed mosaic tiles on to seven purple petals. Later bereaved family members laid yellow tiles in the centre to finish the mosaic.

Sport

Sports are played in the park including Cycling, Tennis, Netball, Athletics, Cricket, Softball, Rounders, Football, Hockey, Australian Rules Football, Rugby, Ultimate Frisbee and Running. Belsize Park Rugby Football Club play their home games in the park.

There are three playgrounds and there is boating on the lake.

Sports take place in an area called the Northern Parkland, and are centred on the Hub. This pavilion and underground changing rooms was designed by David Morley Architects and Price & Myers engineers, and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. It won the IStructE Award for Community or Residential Structures in 2006.

The Outer Circle is used by road cyclists. One circuit is 4.45 km. A number of amateur cycling clubs that meet regularly to complete laps of the Outer Circle for exercise and leisure. Prominent clubs include: Regent's Park Rouleurs (RPR), Cycle Club London (CCL), Rapha Cycle Club (RCC). Many cyclists track & log their rides using the online social network site Strava. As at January, 2018 – some 22,000 cyclists had completed & logged 1.6mn laps of the park using the Strava app. [11] In 2015, Regent's Park Cyclists was formed to represent the interest of cyclists and cycling clubs that use the Inner & Outer Circle. [12]

The park was scheduled to play a role in the 2012 Summer Olympics, hosting the baseball and softball, but these sports were dropped from the Olympic programme with effect from 2012. The Olympic cycling road race was supposed to go through Regent's Park, as was the cycling road race in the 2012 Summer Paralympics, but the routes were changed.[13][14] The Park also plays host to London Camanachd who have regular shinty scrimmages there.

The terraces

John Nash was appointed architectural 'overseer' for the Regent's Park projects of Decimus Burton: Cornwall Terrace, York Terrace, Chester Terrace and the villas of the Inner Circle, including The Holme. However, to the chagrin of Nash, Decimus largely disregarded his advice and developed the Terraces according to his own style, to the extent that Nash sought the demolition and complete rebuilding of Chester Terrace, but in vain. Decimus's terraces were built by his father, James Burton (property developer).[15][16]

Clockwise from the north the terraces are:

Gloucester Gate
Sussex Place
  • Sussex Place, originally 26 houses designed by Nash and built by William Smith in 1822–23, rebuilt in the 1960s behind the original façade to house the London Business School
  • Hanover Terrace, designed by Nash in 1822 and built by John Mckell Aitkens
  • Kent Terrace, behind Hanover Terrace and facing Park Road, designed by Nash and built by William Smith in 1827[5]
Park Crescent home of International Students House, London is just above Regent's Park station.

Immediately south of the park are Park Square and Park Crescent, also designed by Nash.

The villas

Nine villas were built in the park. There follows a list of their names as shown on Christopher and John Greenwood's map of London (second edition, 1830), with details of their subsequent fates:

Close to the western and northern edges of the park

Winfield House
  • Marquess of Hertford's Villa: later known as St Dunstans; rebuilt as Winfield House in the 1930s and now the American Ambassador's residence. Largest private garden in London second to the Queen's garden at Buckingham Palace.
  • Grove House: still a private residence but previously owned by Robert Holmes à Court, the Australian businessman. His estate sold the property after he died from a heart attack in the early 1990s. Grove House is said to have one of the largest gardens in central London after Buckingham Palace. The garden runs along the edge of Regent's Canal.
  • Hanover Lodge: as of 2005 under restoration for renewed use as a private residence. Recently (2007) the subject of a Court Case (won by Westminster City Council against the architect, Quinlan Terry, and contractor, Walter Lilly & Co) that ruled that two Grade II listed buildings had been illegally demolished while the property was leased to Conservative peer, Lord Bagri. It has been falsely reported that the neo-classical roadside lodges no longer stand, when actually the roadside elevations are intact and are being restored with the remaining structures by Quinlan Terry
  • Albany Cottage: demolished. Site now occupied by London Central Mosque.
  • Holford House (not shown on Greenwood's map; but see Stanford's map of 1862): built in 1832 north of Hertford House, and the largest of the villas at that time. From 1856 it was occupied by Regent's Park College (which subsequently moved to Oxford in 1927). In 1944 Holford House was destroyed to a great extent when a bomb was dropped on it during World War II, and it was demolished in 1948.

Around the Inner Circle

Close to the eastern edge of the park

  • Sir H. Taylor's Villa: demolished; site now part of the open parkland.
  • International Students House, London
  • Between 1988 and 2004 six new villas were built by the Crown Estate and property developers at the north western edge of the park, between the Outer Circle and the Regent's Canal. They were designed by the English Neo-Classical architect Quinlan Terry, who designed each house in a different classical style, intended to be representative of the variety of classical architecture, naming them the Veneto Villa, Doric Villa, Corinthian Villa, Ionic Villa, Gothick Villa and the Regency Villa respectively.[18]

More attractions

  • Park Crescent's breathtaking façades by John Nash have been preserved, although the interiors were rebuilt as offices in the 1960s.
  • The Camden Green Fair is held in Regent's Park as part of an ongoing effort to encourage citizens of London to go Green.
  • The fountain erected through the gift of Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney is on The Broadwalk between Chester Road and the Outer Circle.

Transport

Nearest Tube stations

Nearest railway stations

Cultural references

In film

  • In 28 Weeks Later (2007), the surviving members of the American military escort Tammy and Andy to Regent's Park to get evacuated out of London.
  • Regent's Park is the setting and closing scene for the black comedy film Withnail and I (1987).

In literature

  • In Elizabeth Bowen's wartime novel The Heat of the Day the park appears a number of times, most memorably in a long atmospheric description of the park in an autumn dusk. Regents Park also appears in her short story of wartime London, "Mysterious Kor".
  • In Agatha Christie's short story "The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman", Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings travel in a taxicab to Regent's Park to investigate a murder that has taken place in "Regent's Court", a fictional block of modern flats nearby.
  • In Agatha Christie's novel The Secret Adversary, Tommy Beresford proposes to Prudence "Tuppence" Cowley and Julius Hersheimmer proposes to Jane Finn while in Regent's Park, on their way home from a celebratory dinner for defeating the protagonist of the story, the infamous Mr. Brown.
  • Rosamund Stacey, protagonist of Margaret Drabble's novel The Millstone (1965), lives in "a nice flat, on the fourth floor of a large block of an early twentieth-century building, and in very easy reach of Regent's Park".
  • Ian Fleming's James Bond novels frequently mention the headquarters of MI6 as a "tall, grey building near Regent's Park."[19]
  • In Charlie Higson's post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel The Enemy (2009), a group of children make a perilous trek through an overgrown St. Regent's Park, en route to Buckingham Palace, where they seek safe refuge, after a worldwide sickness has infected adults turning them into something akin to zombies. In the park, diseased monkeys from the nearby zoo attack the group, killing several children and wounding others.
  • In Ruth Rendell's crime novel The Keys to the Street (1996), much of the action (and murders) take place in and around Regent's Park.
  • In J. K. Rowling's first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) and the eponymous film, Harry goes to the London Zoo for his cousin's birthday.
  • In Dodie Smith's children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956), the protagonist dalmatian dogs live near Regent's Park and are taken there for walks by their human family, the Dearlys. Regent's Park is also featured in the films based on Smith's book.
  • The Regent's Park is the setting for several scenes in Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway (1925).

In music

  • In Madness' single "Johnny The Horse" (1999), the eponymous character ends his days in the park after taking "his battered bones and broken dreams to Regent's Park at sunset".
  • The artwork to Coil's 1986 album Horse Rotorvator contains a photograph of the bandstand located in Regent's Park.

In art

In video games

References

  1. ↑ Westminster Boundary (Map). City of Westminster. 2008. LA 100019597 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  2. ↑ Historic England, "Regents Park (1000246)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 10 February 2016
  3. ↑ "The Regent's Park". The Royal Parks. Archived from the original on 16 May 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  4. ↑ Mills, A., Dictionary of London Place Names, (2001)
  5. 1 2 Weinreb, B. and Hibbert, C. (ed) (1995) The London Encyclopedia Macmillan ISBN 0-333-57688-8
  6. ↑ Stern, Robert A.M.; Fishman, David; Tilove, Jacob (2013). Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern City. The Monacelli Press. p. 23. ISBN 1580933262.
  7. ↑ "William Copeland Astbury". Facebook. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  8. ↑ The Catastrophe in the Regent's Park, The Times, 22 January 1867, p.12
  9. ↑ London, past and present: its history, associations, and traditions – Henry Benjamin Wheatley, Peter Cunningham – Google Books. Books.google.com. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Col ET Vallance (2015). 'Postmen at War – A history of the Army Postal Services from the Middle Ages to 1945' p.110, 114. Stuart Rossiter Trust, Hitchin. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  11. ↑ www.strava.com
  12. ↑ "Regent's Park Cyclists – Uniting all of Regent's Parks Cyclists". Regent's Park Cyclists.
  13. ↑ UCI wants London Olympic road race route changed, CyclingWeekly
  14. ↑ Exclusive: 2012 Olympics road race route, CyclingWeekly
  15. ↑ ODNB, Burton, Decimus (1880–1881)
  16. ↑ "James Burton [Haliburton], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography".
  17. ↑ NGS website
  18. ↑ Kenneth Powell (25 November 2002). "Grandeur cannot be done cheaply". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  19. ↑ "News and Pictures From The 2002 James Bond Celebrity Golf Classic".
  20. ↑ Arnaud, Danielle. "Fair Play". Danielle Arnaud. Retrieved 7 December 2016.

Bibliography

  • Stourton, James (2012). Great Houses of London (Hardback)|format= requires |url= (help). London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0-7112-3366-9.
  • Weinreb, B. and Hibbert, C. (ed) (1995) The London Encyclopedia Macmillan ISBN 0-333-57688-8
  • Wheatley, Henry Benjamin and Cunningham, Peter "London, Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, Vol. III"
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